Failures of Motorsports - Car Designs, Team Mistakes and More

  • Thread starter Panoz
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Har1MAS1415
Does this thread specifically have to be about teams, drivers and cars?
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From the OP:

Panoz
From bad car designs, to team or driver performance that lead to poor results and sanctioning bodies making new regulations that later destroyed a series is the point for this thread.
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I assume this is essentially what the thread is about.
 
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Har1MAS1415
Mind you, the Class 1 Touring Car rules could count full-stop as the first iteration of said ruleset ran the original DTM into the ground, the 2nd iteration nearly did the same thing to the revived DTM in the space of only two seasons and led to the DTM switching to GT3 rules just to survive.
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Just coming back to this, it wasn't Class One that did the DTM in, it was Mercedes deciding they wanted to spend their money on Formula E instead. Audi's presence was contingent on a third manufacturer, when Aston went, Audi went. Mercedes agreed to the new regs in 2014 when ITR was run by none other than one of the founders of AMG, Hans Werner Aufrecht... then changed their mind...
 
MatskiMonk
Just coming back to this, it wasn't Class One that did the DTM in, it was Mercedes deciding they wanted to spend their money on Formula E instead. Audi's presence was contingent on a third manufacturer, when Aston went, Audi went. Mercedes agreed to the new regs in 2014 when ITR was run by none other than one of the founders of AMG, Hans Werner Aufrecht... then changed their mind...
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Well the first iteration of Class 1 certainly contributed to the demise of the original DTM.

Because of the glaring failure of their 1997 effort, it is easy to forget Lola's 1993 effort with Scuderia Italia, after his first run in the T93/30, the late Michele Alboreto declared "We're dead!" Suffice it to say, he wasn't wrong, the car failed to qualify 7 times (5 times in the experienced Alboreto's case) and the team pulled out with 2 races to go. By today's standards, it would have scored 7 points in Luca Badoer's hands, his best result being 7th in a race of attrition at Imola which at least allowed the team to finish ahead of Tyrrell on countback but this still kind of jinxed Badoer for the remainder of his F1 career and Lola's efforts thereafter in hindsight.
 
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Suzuki-Cara
Robby Gordon. I'll just leave it at that.
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As a driver, yes. As a promoter, not so much. He definitely has the most raw talent of anyone I've ever seen, but just never had the patience in a race situation. SST is far from being a failure.
 
lilcat89
As a driver, yes. As a promoter, not so much. He definitely has the most raw talent of anyone I've ever seen, but just never had the patience in a race situation. SST is far from being a failure.
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The CARS quote from the King sums his entire career up perfectly. I still remember catching the dual burnout him and Harvick had in the Montreal race live on air.

He's also the only man to put the fear of god in Tony Stewart. 🤣
Har1MAS1415
To think Ligier were interested in hiring him alongside Oliver Panis for the 1996 F1 Season.
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Imagine him getting into it with Villeneuve or Schumacher. :lol:
 
What about Dave Walker? By today's standards, he would have scored just 3 points to Emerson Fittipaldi's 176 when they were team-mates at Lotus in 1972. Even if he was a victim of the poisoned chalice that was being Lotus' #2 driver during the Colin Chapman-era, it still makes you wonder how the Australian failed so spectacularly, lucky for him that only the points from the best placed car counted towards the Constructor's Championship back then.
 
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Har1MAS1415
Another failure of Motorsport then, just like the revamp of Donington Park for the 2010 British Grand Prix and beyond.
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At least Donington was saved and returned to being a decent circuit again. If the current Google Maps image is anything to go by, the circuit and infield of Rockingam (if not it's car parks) are nothing more than inefficient car storage facilities. I assume as it was bought for £80 million five years ago, its current owners must have a better plans for it than it's current usage, although as a former brownfield site, i can't imagine what.
 
The BTC-Touring regs that replaced Super Touring in the British Touring Car Championship in 2001, considering the series had to rely on the Production Class and later Super 2000 cars to boost grid numbers until switching to the latter ruleset for 2007, I'd say 2005 was the biggest let down in terms of grid numbers in this respect.

It also meant the fans had to put up with Vauxhall winning everything, at least until Matt Neal started driving Hondas and Jason Plato returned with SEAT.
 
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It's disheartening to see Graham Rahal miss out on qualifying for the Indy 500 this year. Rahal has been a consistent contender in previous races, showcasing his skill and determination. While setbacks happen in racing, it's undoubtedly a tough blow for both Rahal and his fans, and we can only hope to see him bounce back stronger in future events.
 
Mercedes' zero-sidepod concept in F1 now that they've finally ditched it after it brought them just one win in 27 races.
 
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Har1MAS1415
Mercedes' zero-sidepod concept in F1 now that they've finally ditched it after it brought them just one win in 27 races.
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What are you talking about??
No sidepods is one of the most insane innovations I’ve ever seen in my time watching F1. It is truly groundbreaking and aero benefits will be huge, don’t need a wind tunnel to see that. With development on PU limited it’ll be hard to replicate - advantage locked in for years!
 
WiisardNic
No sidepods is one of the most insane innovations I’ve ever seen in my time watching F1.
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Lambo tried it first. Made their car look like F3 and was about as competitive.

1DF1FCA8-9FE5-402F-B8BA-1BE755F6EE52.jpeg
 
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